An Instagram Story is 1080 x 1920 px. The frame is full screen, but Instagram draws its own controls over roughly 310 px of it, so the area you can actually design into is closer to 1080 x 1610 px.
Where it shows
- Story tray at the top of the feed
- Full screen story viewer
- Story replies inside direct messages
- Highlights on your profile
- Close Friends story ring
The safe zone
The top of a Story carries the progress bars, your profile bubble, your username and the timestamp. The bottom carries the reply bar plus the share and more icons. Sprout Social and Hootsuite both put the usable area at 1080 x 1610 px, and Buffer suggests keeping roughly 250 px clear at the top and the bottom, which is the more cautious reading. Keep headlines, link stickers and poll stickers inside that middle band, and let photographs and gradients run to the full 1920 px.
Quirks worth knowing
- Meta's reference recommends 9:16 for Story images and caps a still at 8 MB, while Story video is capped at 100 MB and 60 seconds per frame.
- Story video is accepted anywhere between 0.1:1 and 10:1 per that same reference, so a square video posts without being rejected. It just sits in a band with fill above and below it.
- Phones with a notch or a rounded corner take a little more of the top than a flat 1080 x 1920 px canvas suggests, so the published safe area is a floor rather than a ceiling.
- The reply bar at the bottom is drawn on every Story, including your own, so that band is never empty.
- Instagram does not publish a Story safe area in pixels. The 1080 x 1610 px figure here comes from Sprout Social and Hootsuite.
- A Story saved into Highlights gets a separate circular cover crop taken from the centre, which ignores whatever you placed in the safe band.
Common mistakes
- Placing a call to action in the bottom 150 px, where the reply bar sits directly on top of it.
- Putting a headline in the top 200 px, under the progress bars and the username row.
- Exporting a Story at 1080 x 1350 px out of feed habit, which leaves fill bands above and below the artwork.
- Dropping a link sticker onto designed text, since the sticker is drawn at its own size and does not reflow around your layout.
What we recommend
- Design on a 1080 x 1920 px canvas with a 1080 x 1610 px guide box laid over it, and keep every word inside the box.
- Push polls, questions and link stickers into the middle third, where a thumb can reach them without hitting the reply bar.
- Let photographs and gradients bleed to all four edges so the frame reads as full screen, and confine only type to the guide.
- Check the design against a notched phone as well as a flat one, because the top band is the first thing a notch eats.
Common questions
Why is my Instagram Story text hidden behind the reply bar?
Instagram draws a reply bar across the bottom of every Story, along with share and more icons. Sprout Social and Hootsuite put the usable area at 1080 x 1610 px inside a 1080 x 1920 px frame. Anything placed below that band risks being covered on most phones.
What size should an Instagram Story be?
1080 x 1920 px, a 9:16 vertical frame, which is what Meta's own media reference recommends for Story images. Keep a still under 8 MB, or video under 100 MB. Each video frame runs to a maximum of 60 seconds.
Can I post a square photo to a Story?
Yes. Meta's reference accepts Story media anywhere between 0.1:1 and 10:1, so a square uploads without complaint. It will sit in the middle of the screen with fill above and below, which usually reads as an accident rather than a decision.
Where should I put a link sticker on a Story?
In the middle third rather than at the bottom. The lower band is occupied by the reply bar and the icons, and a sticker placed too low is awkward to tap. Sitting it near the vertical centre also keeps it inside the 1080 x 1610 px area Sprout Social and Hootsuite report as usable.
Why does my Story look different on someone else's phone?
Not every phone screen is 9:16, and notches and rounded corners take extra pixels from the top. A 1080 x 1920 px design is scaled to fit each device, so the exact top and bottom loss varies. Designing to the 1080 x 1610 px band absorbs that variation.
More answers on thumbnail, carousel and cover questions are on the FAQ.